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I'm trying to install Debian or Ubuntu on HP Proliant ML110 G7 server but it doesn't see one RAID 10 logical drive (as I set in BIOS previously) but sees two instead. RAID SATA Controller is B110i. How to fix this issue when using Debian/Ubuntu distros? And what linux distro supports it from the box withou any additional effort? (thanks in advance)

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    Can you provide a screenshot of what the bios thinks the array configuration is? And also whatever you have from the OS that shows two drives?
    – longneck
    Nov 15, 2012 at 2:51
  • Thank you for the answer! I strongly assured what I need to do right now thanks to other user reply. Thanks a lot!
    – Mikalaj
    Nov 15, 2012 at 15:06

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Because this is not a true hardware raid, but rather an onboard chip that needs a driver for the kernel to recognize the array. HP only supports sles and rhel. For Debian, you would need to load the driver during install, assuming you can get the source and compile it.

I have numerous dl-120 servers running Debian squeeze. All have lsi raid cards. I never use the onboard raids. They are nowhere near the performance of a battery backed raid controller.

To use the b110, your only choice is to use sles or rhel, or configure software raid.

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  • Thanks Gmck! Can you provide me with some instuction describing Linux installation on a top of LSI RAID controller. Do I need to run Linux with a command line keys in order to provide it with required LSI driver? Do I need physically disconnect native B110i contoller at all?
    – Mikalaj
    Nov 15, 2012 at 15:01
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You can disable the internal RAID in the BIOS setup if you like, but that would not affect the LSI card, or the OS install.

The raid cards I typically use are the LSI Mega Raid line. There are many other vendors out there with similar offerings. My preference is LSI. Many HP, IBM, Dell raid cards are re-branded LSI and Adaptec products.

All cards in the MegaRaid lineup have their own BIOS that will present logical volumes to the OS. In my experience with Debian, I have never had to provide a driver disk for LSI Raids. Drivers have been in the kernel for years.

Keep in mind that if you want the best performance, you need to add a Battery backup to the card to enable write-back caching.

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